Golden Kiwi Baked Custard Tart with a Dark Chocolate Ganache.

I know, I know, the custard is clearly over-done, should’ve taken it out of the oven 10 minutes earlier. But honestly, the flavour was great.

So the wonderful people at Zespri have called again, and this time to offer me a box of one of the most amazing fruits I’ve ever tasted, the Golden Kiwi. Much sweeter, less tart and more delicate in flavour than its bolder green cousin, I felt that it’s flavour would best be highlighted in a dessert rather than in a savoury dish (Re: this entry from way back when). We’ve all had custard gateaux with jellied kiwi slices laid out on top, i wanted to make a custard that actually incorporated the kiwi flavour within. The result was very successful, albeit overcooked (don’t worry, I’ll fix the cooking time below), the custard was sweet without being overbearingly so, and the freshness of the golden kiwi was able to shine through in all its glory. The recipe is after the jump. The creamy bittersweet flavour of the ganache added richness and another dimension to the dish, overall definitely worth a try.

Makes a large 22cm wide tart

For the shortcrust pastry:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius

220g of sifted all purpose flour

100g of cold cubed butter

3-4tbsp of chilled water

1 pinch of salt

Shortcrust pastry must be worked very quickly and with all the ingredients as cold as possible so that it remains delicate and flaky when cooked. So do try and be quick here. Sift your flour into the bowl of a food processor along with the salt, then add the butter cubes and pulse a few times until the butter is “cut” into the flour, the mix should resemble breadcrumbs. With the blades running, now add the chilled water, one tablespoon at a time, and add only enough to bind the mixture together, work quickly and do not over beat the dough. On a cold and clean working surface, bring the dough together and cover in cling film and let it rest for about 15min in the fridge. Remove the dough from the fridge, and on a flour-dusted surface roll out nice and thinly enough to cover the base and sides of the 22cm tart dish with some extra dough overhanging. Make sure no air bubbles are trapped underneath the pastry, and pierce it thoroughly with a fork. Line the pastry with some baking sheets and beans and blind bake in the oven for about 20min. Remove the beans and baking sheets, brush the pastry with some egg wash and return to the oven for another 5-7ish minutes until the pastry just starts to colour. Lower the oven temperature to 140 degrees Celsius.

For the custard:

300ml of heavy cream

300ml of golden kiwi juice

50ml of whole cream milk

4 large eggs

2 egg yolk

About 2 tbsp of caster sugar

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, the yolk and the sugar together and leave to work on the other half of the custard.

Blend enough kiwis in a blender to make 300ml (roughly 5 kiwis) and add the juice to a small pan. On a medium heat allow the juice to boil, leave to boil for about 5mins (just to reduce it), add the milk and the cream and leave on the heat until it just starts to come up to a boil and remove from the heat immediately. Drizzle the cream and kiwi mixture into the egg and sugar mix very gradually, whisking well as you do. Sieve the mixture into the ready tart base and cook in the oven (preferably use a baine-marie, i.e. place the tart dish in a larger baking tray with enough water to come up halfway through the dish) for no more than 40min, until the custard is nicely coloured on the surface but still wobble at the center. Remove the tart from the oven, and leave to cool for few hours before serving.

For the Ganache:

200g of bittersweet chocolate

1/2 of heavy cream

Using a bowl and a pot as a double boiler, break the chocolate into pieces and melt. As the chocolate melts, add the cream and stir gently with a spoon and make sure that all the chocolate is melted and you’re left with a homogeneous liquid.

Spoon or use a squirty bottle to pour the ganache over the tart and enjoy.